Three Nights Before Christmas
by skimmingsurfaces
Summary: Established P/B. After Brain and Pinky have an argument on Christmas Eve, a terrible thing happens. However, Brain is given three days to go back and right some of the wrong. Only some of it though. He cannot change what will occur on Christmas Eve, but he is determined to try regardless.
1. Chapter 1

"Pinky! You've ruined it!"

"Oh, Brain! I didn't ruin it! _Narf_!" Pinky giggled, shaking the scraps of tinsel from his arms. "I made it festive! Joy to the world! Narf, narf narf narf!"

"Pinky, cease!" Brain commanded, snatching his snout and yanking until the rubbery, ridiculous nose stretched past its limits, then let it snap back. "You've. Ruined. It. All your deluded decor has become completely entwined in all my machinery! My instant granular ice precipitator fabricator has been rendered useless by tinsel and strings of popped corn kernels!"

"You're welcome!" the taller mouse chirped, draping some silver tinsel over the megalomaniac.

The Brain shook it off with a glare, picking strands of the shiny material out of his fur. "Now Christmas has been ruined," he grumbled.

"Don't talk like that, Brain. _Zort_. I was only trying to make Christmas more joyful. Poit. Your machine wasn't in the spirit of things," Pinky pointed out.

"It wasn't supposed to be," he growled, pink gaze narrowing. Dusting himself off and kicking the smoking snow machine, Brain stalked over to their cage, only to find it covered in garland. He couldn't even see through the bars. "Pinky!"

"Well, you said we couldn't have a tree, Brain, so I thought this would be the next best thing." Pinky came up beside him, arms clasped behind his back while he rocked on his heels. "And look! You can even hang sparkly ornaments and pretty lights on it!" From nowhere he whipped out a shiny red ball and hooked it on the draping, green faux-fir.

It was too heavy and brought half the garland down on the large-headed mouse, a snowman ornament conking him on the skull. Falling onto his rump, he swayed dizzily as wreaths and ribbons fluttered around his head in circles. He shook himself free of the daze and glared at his companion. Pinky was giggling, stopping only when Brain took the ornament and bashed him on the head with it, then he was simply too dizzy to laugh about it. Once it passed he would've, if Brain hadn't been attempting to tear down the rest of his decorations.

"Egad, Brain, what're you doing? Don't you like it?" Pinky clasped his hands together, concerned.

"No, Pinky. I don't like it! Clean this mess up immediately!" Brain ordered, shoving a clump of the green mass at him.

Blue eyes blinked. "It's not a mess... poit."

"It is a mess and I will not have it polluting our cage!" He made a face when he noticed that some of the green clung to his hands and made to brush it off. "Throw it away!"

"But, Brain-"

"No buts, Pinky! Now!" The mood he was in was determined to make all those around him just as bitter and miserable as he was, including his cohort, and on some level he realized this and felt ashamed. But that level was quietly and quickly buried by other levels and he ignored it.

"Right, Brain," Pinky sighed and set about removing all his lovely decorations.

"Good." When there was enough space for him to crawl through their door, the smaller mouse did so. "Now, there's still some time left tonight to implement one of my back-up plans. Perhaps tonight won't be a complete waste after all."

He didn't notice the way his partner froze, shoulders slumping and gaze widening, too focused on sorting through the bundle of blueprints he kept under their bed. "But... but, Brain," he protested hesitantly. "It's Christmas Eve."

"What- ow!" Brain bumped his head as he moved it out from under their bed to look at him, growing grumpier by the second. Nothing was going his way tonight. "What did you say, Pinky?"

"It's Christmas Eve, Brain. Poit." Pinky wrung his hands together.

"Your point?" Brain raised an eyebrow and Pinky did nothing more than look sad.

"It's our very first."

Ridiculous creature. "Pinky, I know your memory is not up to standard issue, but this is absurd. You know we've celebrated Christmas before, we've had three of them."

"Oh, I know that, Brain. But this is different."

"No it isn't. Pinky, we've worked Christmas Eve before and it has never been a problem."

"Wuh... well, this is our first Christmas as marrieds."

Brain paused to ponder a moment. The same part of him that realized he was being purposefully hurtful because of his bad mood alerted him that this was, in fact, something important. The part of him that still grew misty-eyed when he held the keychain of the world in his hands. But again, it was too far buried.

"Pinky, us being married has little to do with celebrating Christmas. It'll be the same it's been every year. Besides," Brain scoffed, dismissing Pinky's concerns and returning to rifling under the bed, "didn't we decide that our being together would in no way detrimentally impact my goal of world domination?"

"Well, of course not, Brain!" Pinky was torn between shaking his head and nodding it, not quite sure which would mean he was agreeing with his husband. "But it's Christmas!"

"I don't care that it's Christmas, Pinky! It's no different from any other day of the year! Get all that commercialized, fabricated nonsense out of your head and stop bothering me with it!" The Brain snapped, one ear falling when he heard the sniffles. "Pinky, don't cry. I don't have time to deal with your crying."

A blueprint caught the corner of his eye and he drew it out, unravelling it to keep his focus solely on the plan rather than the tears his partner was tempting him to look at. "Brain, I only wanted us to spend Christmas together... p-poit."

"We will, Pinky. After the plan." He waved him away. "I need to you to collect several yards of fabric. We're going to decorate my mechanical suit as Santa as phase one in my scheme. We'll have to work quickly though. Can you adequately sew a Santa suit in less than an hour? Oh, who am I kidding? I'll use the sewing machine. It'll speed the process." Brain rolled it up and tucked it under his arm, turning towards the door, struck by the image of his husband still standing there. "What're you doing, Pinky? You're wasting precious time!" He tapped his wrist as if there were a watch there. His simple companion wouldn't know the difference.

"But Brain, I was gonna wrap presents," he told him. "I even picked out special, holiday edition Rush Limba themed wrapping paper and Jonas Brothers gift bags. And pretty, shiny bows to go on top." Pinky held out a gold bow he pulled out from nowhere. "I have to make sure they're wrapped before Christmas morning and you know how hard wrapping is. _Zort._"

Brain smacked his palm to his forehead. "Only for you," he grumbled, glaring at him. "Pinky you can wrap them when we get back." He started storming out of the cage, only to freeze when the words caught up to his racing mind. "Wait. How many presents do you have to give?" he demanded more than asked. "It's only the two of us!"

The gold bow crinkled when Pinky hugged it. "Well, I had to get Romy a present, Brain. He's our son! And then I got Bunny a present, too. And Gerry because he's always so friendly and watches our cage very well. And Mr. Sultana because he's our neighbor and you always give presents to neighbors. And Pharfignewton and Billie and Maurice LaMarche and Rob Paulsen- oh! _Narf!_ And I also picked three little angel cards from the tree in the lobby of the lab!" He got excited when he pulled out the cards, two blue and one pink. "It's to give Christmas presents to children who need a little extra help to have a Merry Christmas this year and Santa needs our help because he's so busy. Oh, can we help him, Brain? Just this once? Instead of taking over the world? Puh-leeeeeeze?"

Something in his head was pounding, hammering away at his skull and each syllable uttered by his wayward husband created more chinks in the bone. Oh, his head... "Silence, Pinky!" he hollered, hands pressing into his temples. "Of course we're not helping him! We don't have time to help him! We don't have time for any of this!" He kicked a stray ornament into the wall. It shattered.

Pinky stared at it, the gold bow flopping to the counter. "Brain..." he murmured, slowly turning his gaze to the smaller mouse. "We have time. We have all sorts of time, there's no deadline on when you have to take over the world-"

"Does there have to be?! For it to be important, does it have to have a deadline?!"

"No, Brain, that's not what I'm saying at all." Pinky hugged the paper angels.

"Would you put those down?!" Brain snapped, making to snatch them away from his partner. "You're not spending any of the money for my plans on your Christmas endeavors!"

"But Brain!" he whined, pulling back until the pink angel ripped in half. A squeaky, horrified gasp escaped him and he let the blue angels flutter out of his grasp to the countertop.

A flicker of shame lit in his gut, promptly snuffed out by his frustration. Brain crumpled up his half of the paper angel, then stomped off to throw it away. His ears stayed lifted even as Pinky's cries reached him, determined not to give it.

"No, Brain! I don't remember what she wanted! She needs a present from me or she won't get any this Christmas! Oh, please, Brain!" he begged, chasing after him, waving his pink half in the air.

"It's not your job to get some strange child a present, Pinky! She's not anyone you know and not anyone you should be preoccupied with getting a present for! I'm your husband!" As he prepared to chuck the wad of pink paper into the trash, it struck him how deeply unsettled he was that Pinky did not mention him among those receiving gifts. Of course he'd be getting one, it was obvious. But currently everyone else seemed to be coming first. It was unacceptable. He threw the scrap of angel away and brushed off his palms.

On a loud wail, Pinky collapsed to his knees. "You're so mean!"

"Oh, yes. Make me the bad guy," he grumbled. "I'm a regular scrooge. Isn't that what you're implying?"

"I'm not trying to, Brain! You're doing that all on your own!" Pinky accused through his blubbering.

"I don't have time for this, Pinky!" he growled, pushing past him, needlessly shoving the shoulder of his already fallen companion.

"You don't have time for anything!" Pinky sobbed, twisting his neck around to glower at him despite his tears. "That's just what you said when I asked if we could have a Christmas dinner with Romy! Or when I asked if we could go shopping together and look at all the pretty lights on Christmas Tree Lane and eat Denny's holiday pancakes! I asked you and you said you didn't have time! You never have time for me!"

Brain rolled his eyes at his husband's overly dramatic claims. "Pinky, we'll have plenty of time to dine with Roman and go shopping! Once I'm crowned uncontested ruler of the world!"

"Not at Christmas!" Pinky rose to his feet so he could stomp one. "Christmas is supposed to be special!"

"That's just the commercials talking, Pinky. Grow up."

"No!"

Brain turned to glare at him, hands clenched to fists at his sides. "What do you mean 'no'?"

"No! I won't grow up! If that means I have to be like you and hate Christmas, then I never want to grow up!" he shouted.

"Well I have no use for a childish husband! I need someone I can consistently count on and if you can't give me that, then you're useless to me!"

"I'm sorry I'm not all boring and cranky and mean like you then!"

"Oh, you should be! You pale in comparison to me! I don't even know what I see in you!"

"Then why did you marry me?" Pinky gripped at his own fur, hugging himself so tightly to keep from falling apart at the seams. "If you don't love me, then why did you marry me, Brain?!"

It was the accusation that he didn't love him that turned his blood cold. Brain gaped at him, the levels sheltering his egomaniacal self peeling away to reveal the raw, vulnerable, _hurt_ part of him. How could Pinky ask that of him? How could Pinky not know? He relied on that ability to just know. His gaze flickered to the half of the angel lying at Pinky's feet. Oh. Brain's white knuckled grip eased and he stared at his hands to keep from feeling caught in the wounded blue eyes boring into him.

His voice was trapped, clogged in his throat like the tinsel in his machine. "I..." He swallowed thickly, but it didn't help. "Pinky, I..."

"If you didn't want me around, you could've just said so, Brain!" he blubbered, tears spilling down his cheeks. He clutched his heart. "You didn't have to lie to me!"

"Pinky, I-!" Brain's eyes widened and his head snapped up, whiplash prickling at his neck. His husband was fleeing him, fleeing the lab, their home. Them. Words, words were always his greatest asset and now he couldn't find a single one. Not with fear flooding his senses. Defensively, he latched back onto authority, the notion of control. "Pinky, get back here! Pinky!"

The taller mouse leapt from the window, landing ankle deep in the snow, and ran off. Brain looked out after him, then scrambled to collect their coats because that idiot would freeze. He raced after him as the hands of the clock shifted to 11:50.

* * *

Merry Christmas Eve!

Here is my present to you~ A Pinky and the Brain Christmas fic.  
Speaking of, I need to watch the Animaniacs marathon in an hour and the PatB Christmas special before the night is up lol.

But yes, this fic was inspired by thinking of this old ABC Family original Christmas movie called "Three Days" (which they actually aired this year! Something they haven't done since 2001!). It made such an impact with me when I watched it then, so I thought to myself, why not make a PatB version? So I did. It's multi-chaptered, clearly lol, but it will be decently long, I've outlined 8 chapters so far. I'll update as quickly as I can, but I'm very behind in it due to life.

Like right now, instead of writing more, I have to go make some cookies and pie. Yes.  
Merry Christmas!


	2. Chapter 2

Pinky didn't know where he was running to, but trusted his legs like he trusted his wheel. He'd get to where he needed to go. Continuing to cry as he ran, he mentally bopped himself for saying such mean things. It was Christmas, a time for joy, he shouldn't have been spending it yelling at his chubby hubby love, even if he did start it.

But Brain didn't even want to spend Christmas with him, didn't love him, and he didn't blame him. The one present his husband wanted was the world and Pinky had tried and failed before to get it for him. If he couldn't get him what he wanted most for Christmas then he must not be a very good husband. He wrote a letter to Santa, hoping some of his Christmas magic would help him, but now he'd been such a bad mouse, he was surely on Santa's naughty list. He wouldn't be getting his wish.

Pinky stumbled to a halt, wiping at his eyes. The tears made his face cold. Stinging. Oh, sure Brain had hurt his feelings by ripping his paper present angel and saying Christmas wasn't special and that he didn't need him, but his grumpy-grumbly husband was in a mood. He'd said and done similar things before; it wasn't like he meant them. Or maybe he really didn't love him anymore. Pinky whimpered, ankle deep in the snow, and turned around to trudge back to the lab to beg for his love's... well, love back.

An odd bleating sound reached his ears, making them twitch up despite the chill it caused the sensitive pink insides. Glancing across the street, he blinked at a goat standing on the corner. It was Mr. Sultana's goat.

Sniffling, Pinky rubbed at his cheeks again. "What're you doing out here all lonely and alone on Christmas?" he asked it, though the softness of his voice didn't allow the animal to hear him. "Oh, Mr. Sultana must be looking for you. Poit."

Since they were neighbors, and it would be on his way home, Pinky figured he would lead the goat back to his owner. With another bleat, the goat began to meander away.

"Come back, Mr. Sultana's goat!" Pinky called out, running after him. It startled the creature, forcing him to dart out into the street.

The Brain saw the goat. Saw it standing in the street right in the path of a pick-up truck carting various tools and construction cargo. The vehicle swerved, skidding on the ice glazed road. The horn pierced the air. On opposite sides of the street, Pinky and Brain watched, as frozen as the flurries falling to cling to their fur, while the goat leapt out of the way, the truck crashed, and it's cargo tumbled out. Then Brain was the only one watching.

"Pinky!" he shouted, sprinting through the snow in his desperation to help his husband. "Pinky, are you alright?! Pinky!"

They'd been hit by worse; crushed, bashed, smashed, run over, blown up, slammed, squished. But none of those things had ever made red blossom the way it did on the snow in the middle of December right under a pile of wooden planks. Staining the white. Red and white; like candy canes or Santa. How festive.

"Pinky!" The scream ripped from his throat as he scrambled to uncover him, frantic and wild. On his chest, where a stray nail protruding from a board impaled him, the festive colors bled together. His husband. "No, no, no, no, Pinky," he moaned, stroking his cheeks, squeezing them, slapping them for signs of life, but his lovely, beautiful blue eyes were dull and unseeing. "Pinky- Pinky, no-!"

In vain he tried to staunch the bleeding, but his fingers could only curl helplessly in his fur, clinging to his chest. He'd already been so cold, but Brain could feel the last of his warmth slipping through his grasp. His lover's life. Slipping away. All because he wouldn't spend Christmas with him.

Brain pressed his lips to his face, light kisses everywhere hoping for his nose to scrunch, his eyes to crinkle, his smile to blossom and part, his musical laughter to sing to him. The last sound he'd heard from him had been angry and heartbroken. Heartbroken. His husband had died heartbroken.

"No, no you're not." Brain cradled him, shaking his head over and over. "You can't. You _can't._" His breath hitched, heart jumping as his husband's face became damp with tears. Oh. Pink eyes traveled to his arm, shaking hard. He couldn't even clench his fist, but he could lift his fingers to his cheeks. He felt the tears before they blurred his vision, then they came streaming as his body convulsed on a harsh sob. "No, Pinky. No. Please. Please."

He couldn't move. Everything hurt and it wasn't until he was trembling so hard that it carried over to Pinky, his still body shaking so. Brain swallowed thickly, his mouth dry and his throat tight. He didn't know how long he spent kneeling in the snow, it may as well have been hours spent cradling his beloved, but he couldn't muster up the energy to move. Only when it looked like his husband was shivering from the cold did Brain finally get to his feet, lifting Pinky with him.

Both heavy and light at the same time, the smaller mouse choked back a pained moan. Pinky's head lolled over his arm, snowflakes painting his cheeks like tears. Like the tears he'd been shedding all because Brain wouldn't put his plans aside for one night. For one simple night to spend Christmas with his love. Bleary, empty pink eyes found the clock tower. It had been Christmas for half an hour now, Pinky had missed it. Brain hiccupped, stumbling as his knees nearly gave out. But he couldn't drop him. It was an unbearable journey, but he couldn't leave him. Couldn't leave him to freeze, to be buried in the snow, forgotten. No one would pay any mind to one little mouse, except perhaps a starving cat.

Brain stumbled again, this time landing on his knees in the snow, heart clenched at the thought. Or what would've been his heart if it were still there to beat. But without his husband's pumping in tandem with his, he was certain it had vanished.

"Pinky..." he whispered, staring glazedly at the quiet face. "Pinky, please. Please. I'm sorry."

"Are you?"

The megalomaniacal mouse wearily raised his head. A strange creature stood before him, something crossed between a dog and cat of some kind, black fur and a white face and floppy ears and a big, dopey, red nose not too different from his lover's own goofy one. His breath hitched and he squeezed his eyes shut. It wasn't fair.

"Helloooooooo? I said 'are you'?" The creature repeated, tapping the small mouse on top of his massive cranium.

Anger bubbled up inside him, quick and fast and ruthless, as he glared up at the intruder, swiping away at the hand even though it was far too large for him to do so, the size of a normal human child's. "_What? _ What do you want?"

"Hey, hey, short stuff. The question isn't about what I want, but what _you_ want." He pushed on his nose this time, making a small dent in his face until it popped back into shape. Brain held Pinky's body tighter with one arm as he rubbed as his nose.

"What the blazes are you talking about?" he grumbled. "Can't you see I'm busy? I have-" his breath hitched a moment, tears stinging his eyes once more, "I have things to take care of, if you don't mind."

"Riiiiiight." The creature crossed his arms and nodded emphatically. "Of course you do. Though isn't that what got you in this mess in the first place? You were too busy for Pinky here and couldn't take the time to show him a little love at Christmas?"

Brain's blood ran cold. "How do you-?" his voice cracked, throat dry. Wide eyes lifted to the face of his company, taking in a raised eyebrow. He cleared his throat. "Who are you? And I demand to know how long you've been following me and my husband!"

"Come on, Brain, don't you recognize your old co-star?" His eyebrows waggled, then let it slide. "Right, right. All high and mighty ever since you got your own cartoon. Well whoop-dee-doo." He twirled a finger in the air and shook his head, getting back into character. "I'm Yakko and I've not been following you so much as knowing everything you've ever done, ever. I'm an angel sent to you to give you a little present of sorts."

"An angel. Here to give me a present." The Brain didn't appear quite convinced, his expression bland and eyes hardening. "And what might that be?"

"Well if it were up to me, your present would be a nice, little tap on the head with an anvil for being such a sweetheart during the season. But that's not what the big guy had in mind." Yakko jerked his thumb up to the sky.

"The big guy," Brain deadpanned, then shook his head. "Sorry, but the only present I need or want would've been to spare his life." He cupped Pinky's cheek, stroking the snow away. "To have more time with him," he whispered.

"Today's your lucky day then, because that's exactly what you're getting," he announced in a game show host fashion, then leaned in close, cupping a hand around his mouth. "You're good at this."

"What?" Pink eyes blinked incredulously at him.

"Thaaaaaaaaat's right! You're getting an all-expenses paid trip to the luxurious, lemon-scented past! Three days absolutely free! But," Yakko paused to squint at the mouse, "it comes at a cost. You get three days to make everything up to Pinky, like you wanted, and keep him from dying with a broken heart, but come December twenty fourth at eleven fifty-eight at night, Pinky will meet his fate." As an aside, he added with a wink, "Now how's that for drama? Thought I could only do comedy, didn't ya?" Then he turned back to Brain.

The mouse rapidly attempted to calculate this. "But... how can that be? I mean, of course time travel is possible, I can do it myself, but..." He flicked his gaze from Pinky to Yakko. "An angel... hmph. There's no such thing. I'm clearly suffering from intense grief and hallucinating."

"I'm telling you, Brain, I am an angel." Yakko placed his palms together and smiled serenely, a little golden halo popping above his head.

"What proof do you have?"

"What? You mean like wings and stuff?" The halo flickered out as he waved his hand. "Ehhhhhhhhh... it's too ostentatious. You just hafta trust me on this. Angel's honor."

Brain's eyes narrowed, finally able to get to his feet, still cradling Pinky's limp body. "Trust you. Right. There's not a chance of a snowfall in in San Diego that I would trust you."

"Well, it's snowing here in Burbank, and that never happens," Yakko pointed out.

"Yes, well, it snowed here last Christmas during my Noodle Noggin plot, so I suppose there's continuity in that. Now if you'll excuse me, we must be getting home." He froze, trembling slightly as he realized what he said. "I mean... I must be... getting home."

"I can get you there a lot quicker." Snapping his fingers, and sending a flurry of snow right at Brain's eyes, the smaller mouse blinked rapidly, finding himself on the counter at ACME Labs. His head swiveled around, gaping in shock as he tucked Pinky's face into the crook of his neck as if to protect him. But the lack of the familiar tickle of his breath reminded him that it was a fruitless effort. He needed no protecting now.

Eyes watering, Brain held back his sniffles as the angel popped up beside him. He tried to ignore him as he collected himself, but his gaze bored holes into his defenses and they were crumbling before his very eyes.

"Believe me now?" Yakko asked, propping his elbows up on the counter, resting his face in his palms. "Aaaaangel."

Brain was silent a minute longer, taking the time to gently lower Pinky atop a cushion of crumpled tinsel from his failed plan. Gazing at his husband's face, he lightly traced from his closed eyelids to his jaw. Three days to spend with him, alive and moving and laughing and loving. "Why only three?" he asked quietly.

"It's the Christmas special. Usually it's only two, but we're throwing in the third free of charge." Yakko watched him for a moment, the mouse not once looking up from the lifeless one. "You know, it's a good deal. Not many people get a second chance, Brain, and you're practically being handed one. Why? Don't ask me, that's not my job to know, but you are."

"But he still has to..." His throat closed up around the word 'die', keeping it locked inside. "That's what you said, isn't it? He still has to meet his fate?"

"That's right."

Brain's fur bristled slightly. "Why? What's the point then?"

"The point is you get a second chance to give Pinky everything you want to give him right now. To allow him to die without any regrets, and to allow you to live without any regrets."

"I... that's not good enough. Why can't I just go back in time myself and stop this from happening at all? Take a time machine and do it myself. I can do that." He smoothed back the tussled fur atop Pinky's head. "I can do that."

"The big guy's not down with that idea, and when he's not down with something, trust me, it's not gonna end pretty for you," Yakko told him. "I'd just take him up on his offer if I were you." The angel straightened and dusted himself off. "Well, I've gotta get going. Got another cameo on my list of things to do. Oh, and before I forget! You can't tell Pinky a thing about what's happened. As soon as you tell him that he's gonna die on Christmas Eve, it'll be like your three days never happened." With a two-fingered salute, Yakko vanished in a blink, the only thing lingering was his wish of a, "Merry Christmas!"

The Brain stared at where he'd been, blinking at the empty space. All he could hear was his ragged breathing. Swallowing thickly, he looked at Pinky and brushed a light kiss to his lips before lifting him once again and carrying him to their cage. If this was all some hallucination, then he would decide what to do with him in the morning.

If not... then maybe he wouldn't have to.

* * *

Poor Pinky... Poor Brain...  
Why must one of them always die? :c

But is angel Yakko telling the truth?

Wait and seeeeeee...

It took me a while to decide if I really wanted Yakko to be the angel, but in the end, I just thought he fit best xD In the spirit of Animaniacs and cameos, I figured, why not?


End file.
